The multifaceted genius H.H. Swami Ananthacharyaji lived between 1874 and 1936. Swamiji was a scholar, orator, writer, editor publisher and Pontiff.

It was his mission in life to spread Vaishnavism and Sanskrit. Swamiji travelled all over the country delivering lectures at centres of learning. He convened the All India Sammelana (Conference) of Hindu scholars belonging to different Sampradayas.

He took initiative of publishing the old Sanskrit works in Devanagari-script, originally in Grantha and Telugu scripts. Also, he published a Sanskrit magazine called ‘Manjubhasini’, which dealt with subjects like Religion and Philosophy, Social Problems, Political events and the changing conditions of British India.

The Venkatesh Temple at Fanaswadi in South Mumbai was built by Swamiji in 1927. He had a dream of creating an ideal reference library and a research institute for scholars.

To make his dream come true, ShriVenkateshDevasthan and Somani family extended a helping hand by housing the Institute in the G.D. Somani School Building and providing other infra-structural facilities for the Library and Research Center in 1974. Thus AIRI took form.